Efficient Algorithms for Distributed Detection of Holes and Boundaries
in Wireless Networks

By Dennis Schieferdecker, Markus Völker and Dorothea Wagner

Abstract

We propose two novel algorithms for distributed and location-free boundary
recognition in wireless sensor networks. Both approaches enable a node to
decide autonomously whether it is a boundary node, based solely on connectivity
information of a small neighborhood. This makes our algorithms highly
applicable for dynamic networks where nodes can move or become inoperative.
We compare our algorithms qualitatively and quantitatively with several
previous approaches. In extensive simulations, we consider various models and
scenarios. Although our algorithms use less information than most other
approaches, they produce significantly better results. They are very robust
against variations in node degree and do not rely on simplified assumptions of
the communication model. Moreover, they are much easier to implement on real
sensor nodes than most existing approaches.Comment: extended version of accepted submission to SEA 201